About The Localising Food Project

We are creating five documentaries and finding innovative ways to share this information with you. Our hope is that you will adopt and adapt some of these New Zealand based initiatives in order to increase food resilience in local communities worldwide.

From Nov 2012 to June 2013, under The Institute of Earthcare Education, Aotearoa (a Nelson-based charitable trust), a small voluntary team of educators & documentary makers toured New Zealand on the ‘Localising Food Tour’. The goal was to empower communities in local food resilience and create healthy, enriching local food cultures throughout NZ. This mission came about as a response to the rapid decline in food security, escalating costs of food, and the increase in natural disasters, especially earthquakes and floods which have devastated some bioregions in New Zealand.To engage with local communities, we offered a series of interactive workshops to develop food resilience action plans and teach hands-on skills. As a result, many local food networks were formed, home growers upskilled and properties transformed into food havens. In addition, thousands of home-saved heirloom seeds were exchanged, school seedbanks formed and food gardens established.

Not only we were embarking on an education mission, but also the ingathering of knowledge as to what was already happening at a local level throughout the country. Over the past 10 years, project initiator Robina McCurdy has observed a multitude of dynamic local food initiatives based on the upward trend in people interested in growing and exchanging their own food. The tour allowed us to document over 200 of these remarkable & flourishing initiatives.To bring this knowledge to the New Zealand public and the rest of the world, we aim to produce a series of educational documentaries and video stories to share on our media rich, interactive website. The site contains ‘how to’ tips, images and information for viewers to get started and adapt what they learn into their own gardens, communities and bioregions.

What we did on the Tour

‘Localising Food Tour Aotearoa’ was an educational and documentary tour of New Zealand (Aotearoa) organised by Earthcare Education Aotearoa (a Nelson-based Charitable Trust) established to deliver sustainability education.The Localising Food Tour Aotearoa was comprised of three main parts: • Workshops, school days and other educational events • Evening presentations • Documentation – Documenting many inspiring examples of local food initiatives throughout New Zealand

We are now creating five documentaries and finding innovative ways to share this information with you. Our hope is that you will adopt and adapt some of these New Zealand – based initiatives in order to increase food resilience in local communities worldwide.